There are currently vehicle seatbelt systems that alert a driver regarding whether a non-driving passenger has fastened his/her seatbelt. As an example, many vehicles now include an occupant sensor in the seat, as well as a seatbelt connection sensor. The occupant sensor may be a weight sensor that detects whether a passenger is sitting in the seat. If an occupant is sitting in the seat, the seatbelt connection sensor determines whether the passenger has latched the seatbelt. If the seatbelt is latched, no alert may be provided. If the passenger is sitting in the seat and the seatbelt is not latched, an alert may be provided to the passenger or others in the vehicle to instruct the passenger to fasten the seatbelt.
While such systems have proven useful for adult passengers, oftentimes such as system may not operate properly when a child passenger is in the vehicle and using a child restraint seat. As an example, many occupant sensors are configured to only detect a passenger that is greater than a predetermined weight (e.g., 80 pounds). If a child is put into a child restraint seat, this threshold may not be met, so there is no alert provided. Additionally, these current solutions have no ability to determine whether the child restraint seat is properly utilized.